Chapter 3: Manfredi’s Log
Kowalski taps his beak as he looks at the code on his workbench. “T56Z3-PL28R…” He murmurs. “Numbers and letters...If Manfredi meant for us to know what it meant, he wouldn’t have made it too hard, I’m sure.” He gets up and starts pacing. “Ergo, it should be something fairly obvious...Probably it is so obvious that it is difficult.”
“‘Fredi? Wat ya talk’n ‘bout?” Rico asks, looking at him from just outside the door, having heard Kowalski’s ramblings.
The scientist stops and looks at his friend. “Skipper found one of Manfredi’s codes on the back of a photo from File 247.” He says, showing it to him.
Rico looks at it and then shrugs. “I dunno.” He does waddle into the lab though and closes the door behind himself.
“I didn’t expect you to know, Rico.” Kowalski snorts a bit and looks at it. “Still, Skipper wants this figured out asap...And by asap, I mean he already wants it solved and in his flippers.”
Rico nods and looks at it. “‘Fredi?”
Kowalski sighs some and rubs his face. “It’s not really that simple, Rico. Manfredi was a fairly private penguin when it came to his codes…You remember how he would lock himself away and lock the room after he left it.”
“Book?” He then grumbles curiously.
The scientist now turns and looks at him oddly. “What book?”
Rico shakes his head. “No book.” He grunts.
“But you just were talking about a book, Rico...” He sighs and rubs his face. He then watches as Rico starts motioning and incomprehensibly jabbering on about something. Rico then slides out after some very enthusiastic motions and squabbling. “Note to self...Next invention, work on a Rico translator.” He mumbles and shakes his head. He returns his attention to his page that is covered with scratched out failures of breaking the code. Kowalski rips it out of his notebook, balls it up, and tosses it to the growing mountain of the trashcan and tries again.
“Dis book!” Rico exclaims, sliding back in with a small computer in his outstretched flippers.
Kowalski looks over at him with a look of final understanding. “Ohhhh! A netbook!” He nods and gets it from Rico. He opens it up and turns it on only to come to a locked home-page. The scientist frowns, highly unamused, but also unsurprised. “Of course he locked it.” He then sighs and shakes his head. “We aren’t any further now that we had been, Rico.”
Rico rolls his eyes as he takes the computer back and types in the password. “He ma’ li’l buddy. I know password.” He grunts.
The avian blinks his surprise and takes the computer again. He clears his throat with a nod. “Erm, yes, so I can see…” He opens up a file on the computer and looks at the code on the picture again. He tries typing the code into the search.
Another file pops up with a video recorded message; a Manfredi’s Log file.
Kowalski looks at Rico before he sits the computer back and presses play. He and Rico take a seat at his workbench and watch it.
“Greetings.” Manfredi nods to the camera. “So as I told you last log, the team and I had to go Guatemala for a mission. Well, we just got back after nearly killing each other--I won’t go into details on that as I’d really like to forget all of that, as I’m sure my bros would like to do, too.” He shakes his head with a sigh. “But for in case I ever do want to get myself flipper deep into some of that sweet misery again, I did keep her card.” He chuckles. He then waves his flippers some. “And I’m off-topic, yeah? Yeah. I kinda...Maybe...Borrowed something of hers, too, just in case she’d try to find her way to us again, because that would be awesome.” He gives a solemn nod. “I have written the coordinates of the item and hidden it away in the file on Galvin Goose and I am writing the label of this video and leaving it in the Guatemalan mission file.” He grins. “Skipper and the others will probably think it is just another file label number, that is if they even notice it. That’s it for today, see ya!” The video clicks off.
Kowalski immediately slides over to the filing cabinet and starts flipping through the Gs. “Gabby, Gido, Gargon, Grange--That’s out of order.” He mutters to himself. “Ah! Galvin--Grouse? No. Nope, here.” He finally pulls out a file on the elusive Galvin Goose. He opens the faded green folder as he waddles over to Rico and lays it and its contents out upon his workbench.
Galvin Goose had been one of their first enemies--Manfredi’s very first vanquished arch. Skipper had been so proud then. The team had been at the top of its game, on a roll. Galvin Goose. He was such a liar, even his name lied. He hadn’t even been a goose. He was a mongoose. It didn’t surprise Kowalski at all that of all the files to hide something in, that Manfredi had chosen this one. It had been special to him, a prize like Private’s first fish that hangs on the tunnel door. In fact, Kowalski was surprised he hadn’t thought of checking it sooner.
After spreading the sheets out, Kowalski finds what he was searching for: a little fluorescent pink post-it note on which there are a pair of coordinates, hidden in the very center of the stack of papers. The scientist copies down the numbers exactly and looks over at Rico. “Tell Skipper to come here at his earliest convenience.” He orders.
Rico nods and slides out of the lab once again.
“Now, these coordinates…” The scientist murmurs as he waddles over to a cord and pulls down a map. He looks over the latitude and longitudes and draws a circle in erasable marker. “Tennessee...When the hydroxide did he go to Tennessee?” Kowalski passes his flipper over his head and smoothes down his flippers. “Not just when, why and how also…” He sighs and shakes his head. “All this time after he and Johnson’s disappearances and they still haunt us with little unsolved mysteries…”
“Rico said you got something, Kowalski?” Skipper then says, coming behind him.
Kowalski jumps in surprise before he nods and steps away from the map. “Yes. The code led to Tennessee coordinates.”
“Tennessee?” Skipper blinks and looks at the map. “Did you plot them right?” He asks and waddles closer to the map, scrutinizingly analyzing it.
“I’ve triple checked it, sir.” Kowalski nods. “And each time it plotted at the same exact location. Manfredi has buried something there of…” He trails off into a murmur.
“Something of what?” Skipper looks at him.
“Of…” Kowalski mumbles and looks elsewhere.
Skipper waddles over to him and grabs his beak and forces him to look in his eyes. “Something of what, Kowalski?” He snaps.
Kowalski gives him a look. “Max’s...” He clears his throat and then looks away. Skipper blinks and releases his beak for a moment. “The code was actually the label of a log and in the log he talked all about it and her and--”
Skipper raises his flipper and cuts him off. “Did he say what it was?” He asks in a softer, but still stern tone.
“No, sir…” Kowalski shakes his head.
“Then that is where we will go.” The flat-headed leader nods and waddles away towards the door. “Pack your bags, boys, I have a feeling we’re not going to be back here for a while.”
Rico looks at them, with his happy, tongue hanging out, smile. “W’a’ ‘bout ‘Ri’ate?”
Kowalski glances around his lab. “I suppose we should probably tell him, yes.”
“Speaking of which, where is he?” Skipper also looks around and peeks out of the lab. “I told him to help you out topside.” He looks at Rico.
Rico nods. “I tol’ ‘im he’p K’wal’ki.”
Skipper looks at Kowalski now with crossed flippers. Kowalski looks at them. “I told him to go watch the Lunacorns.”
“Great. Now what did he think to do when that went off all of thirty minutes ago?” The leader snorts and marches out. “Private!” Seeing no sign of the young recruit, he climbs topside with a sigh. He finds him swimming in the pool and nods a bit, relieved on the inside. “Private.”
Private notices him and swims over. “Yes, sir?”
“Get you things, we have a rendezvous with Tennessee.”
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“Ehm, okay.” He nods and climbs out, shaking the water off. Skipper nods and waddles back inside, leaving Private very confused out on the ice flow.
